Profitability of household photovoltaic self-consumption in Spain

The profitability of household PV self-consumption, intended with the new renewable self-consumption regulation in Spain, is expected to boost its deployment. Renewable self-consumption, in addition to savings in the electricity bill of consumers, also unlocks a variety of benefits such as the reduction of CO2 emissions and electrical power losses in the transmission network, the reduction of electricity price in the wholesale market, the energy dependence rate or the creation of local work. In spite of all these advantages, many barriers have prevented the development of renewable self-consumption in Spain until October 2018, when a new regulation introduced the right to self-consume renewable electrical energy without charges. This work is intended to assess the profitability of residential PV self-consumption in Spain. To achieve that goal the hourly profiles of demand and PV self-production for an average dwelling have been elaborated based on one-year data from the System Operator. Our findings highlight that a 1.5–2 kW-peak PV commercial self-consumption kit yields to an optimum net billing situation for an average dwelling, which means an effective saving of the previous electricity bill. [Display omitted]